1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dental instrument for gripping and placing an obturator within an opening in a tooth located in a patient""s mouth while performing a root canal.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is a dental instrument for gripping and placing an obturator within an opening in a tooth located in a patient""s mouth while performing a root canal. This invention is designed to place an obturator, such as for example the type of obturator taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,011. This type of obturator consists of a shaft having an enlarged proximal end for grasping the obturator and having a distal end that is generally coated with a substance such as gutta percha.
Currently there are no instruments designed to grasp an obturator while it is being placed within the patient""s mouth. Without such an instrument, dental professionals currently must grasp the proximal end of the obturator with their fingers and attempt to insert the obturator into the prepared canal within the tooth undergoing the root canal procedure. Routinely the dental professional""s hand obscures the operating field of vision, making insertion of the obturator difficult, particularly if patient has limited opening.
The shaft of the obturator is provided with rings that indicate the depth within the tooth that the obturator should be inserted. However, because the dental professional""s hand obscures vision as the obturator is being placed, often the professional can not see the rings to determine the depth of placement within the tooth. This directly influences the prognosis of the root canal procedure.
In addition, the average dental professional will incur significant difficulty in initially attempting to grasp the proximal end of the obturator while removing it from a warming oven. If the heated obturator is mishandled or dropped, the heated gutta percha that coats the distal end of the obturator is damaged or displaced and the obturator must be discarded. Even if the professional is able to grasp the obturator and insert his hand in the patient""s mouth, because his view is obscured, he often will not be successful in placing the obturator precisely within the desired opening in the tooth. Imprecise placement will occur if the heated gutta percha that coats the distal end of the obturator is stripped off of the obturator or damaged before the distal end of the obturator can be properly placed through the access opening in the tooth and thereafter into the root canal space.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing an instrument for grasping an obturator and placing it within the desired tooth opening. The instrument is designed so that the dental professional""s vision is not obscured during placement, allowing for more accurate visual placement and more precise depth location of the distal end of the obturator within the tooth opening using the rings provided on the obturator shaft. Use of this instrument allows the dental professional to fill the opening in a tooth that was made to perform a root canal with a cleaner and more precise technique than when using his fingers to grip the obturator. Also, placing of the obturator using this instrument is more comfortable for the patient in that the patient is not required to open as wide as would be necessary to admit the dental professional""s fingers. Because of the greater dexterity afforded to the dental professional by using this instrument, there is less chance of dropping or stripping the obturator when initially grasping it as the obturator is removed from the warming oven. Also, this instrument results in less instances of stripping the gutta percha off of the obturator during placement.
In addition, this instrument allows the dental practitioner greater vision of the operating field, easier access to the root canal space, and the potential for a better final result for his effort. Due to the reduction in waste, use of this instrument results in cost savings by reducing the number of obturators that need to be purchased by the dental professional.
The present invention is a dental instrument for gripping and placing an obturator within an opening in a tooth located in a patient""s mouth when a root canal is being performed. The instrument is provided with a handle that the dental professional grips. The handle is provided with one or more ends that are each designed to be capable of removably securing to a proximal end of an obturator.
Each end of the instrument may be either friction fit to the proximal end of the obturator for precise release or may be provided with arms that firmly grasp the proximal end of the obturator. If each end of the instrument attaches to the proximal end of the obturator by friction fit, each end of the instrument may be either a female connection or a male connection. If each end of the instrument is a female connection, the female connection encases the proximal end to removably secure the proximal end of the obturator to the end of the instrument. If each end of the instrument is a male connection, the male connection inserts into a central opening provided in the proximal end of the obturator as a means of removably securing the proximal end of the obturator to the end of the instrument.